Homer

The Odyssey

One of the oldest stories in the world: a soldier's ten-year journey home from war, and the family holding out for him. Read Samuel Butler's classic English translation free, in full — no ads, no accounts.

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The 24 books

  1. Book IThe gods take pity on Odysseus; Athena visits Telemachus
  2. Book IITelemachus confronts the suitors and sails for Pylos
  3. Book IIIOld Nestor's news at Pylos
  4. Book IVMenelaus and Helen at Sparta; the suitors lay an ambush
  5. Book VCalypso lets Odysseus go; Poseidon breaks his raft
  6. Book VINausicaa finds a stranger on the beach
  7. Book VIIThe palace of King Alcinous
  8. Book VIIIThe Phaeacian games; Demodocus sings of Troy
  9. Book IXOdysseus names himself: the Cicons, the Lotus-eaters, the Cyclops
  10. Book XThe bag of winds, the Laestrygonians, and Circe
  11. Book XIOdysseus among the dead
  12. Book XIIThe Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, and the cattle of the Sun
  13. Book XIIIThe Phaeacians land him on Ithaca; Athena disguises him
  14. Book XIVThe hut of the loyal swineherd Eumaeus
  15. Book XVTelemachus sails home, evading the ambush
  16. Book XVIFather and son reunited
  17. Book XVIIA beggar in his own hall; his dog Argos knows him
  18. Book XVIIIThe fight with the beggar Irus
  19. Book XIXPenelope's interview; the nurse recognises the scar
  20. Book XXOmens gather before the crisis
  21. Book XXIThe contest of the bow
  22. Book XXIIThe killing of the suitors
  23. Book XXIIIPenelope tests Odysseus; the secret of the bed
  24. Book XXIVPeace made in Ithaca